, which fetched over $149.2 million - almost five times the previous record for the French artist's work. A Van Gogh painting, Verger Avec Cyprès, fetched almost $117.2 million to become the most expensive work by the artist ever to sell at auction. Painted in Arles, France, two years before the artist's death, it is "as special as any Van Gogh we've offered in 30 years", according to Max Carter, a vice-chairman of 20th and 21st century art at Christie's. A 1980s work by British painter Lucian Freud - Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) - sold for $86 million, shattering the artist's previous record of $56.2 million. Mr Allen acquired the painting in 1998 for $5.8 million, around 15 years after Freud completed it.){kind=link}
Masterpiece collection of Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, sells for $1.5bn – with several pieces gaining in value over time
The record for artwork sold at auction has been broken for the second time in just six months, after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s masterpiece collection fetched a staggering $1.5 billion (£1.3 billion) at Christie’s.
The flurry of nine-figure sales suggested that the global rich still view art as a hedge against inflation and perhaps a safer store of value than increasingly volatile stocks and crypto currencies, as the economy experiences a downturn.
Buyers on Wednesday also appeared to be buoyed by the results of Tuesday night’s US midterms elections, where a market-rattling political rout was threatened but never materialised.
The last record was set in May, with the $922 million sale of divorcing real estate couple Harry and Linda Macklowe’s collection at Sotheby’s.